Italian fascism

de R. J. B. Bosworth, Patrizia Dogliani

Bringing together scholars, especially young ones, from the Italian- and English-speaking world, Bosworth and Dogliani's edited book reviews the history of the memory and representation of Fascism after 1945. Among the matters discussed are monumental representations of Fascism and war (official and unofficial, Italian and 'Slav'), the memories of such traumatic times that are held by peasants, women, volunteer emigrants to Nazi Germany, Dodecanese islanders and any who retained a mentality affected by the dictatorship, as well as cinematic and film accounts of the Fascist past. With its attention ranging from patriotism to sadomasochism, the book asks important questions about the way in which Italians have remembered and forgotten their history under Mussolini and is therefore of interest to any who wonder about how a past becomes usable and why such usability is most often short-term and precarious.